


Study Break

by obbets



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, fresh bread is delicious but is better used as a weapon, give the disaster man a nice time where he can laugh and be happy, julian ft bee related pet names, let's all be cute together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 19:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17310815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obbets/pseuds/obbets
Summary: Julian and Clara (fan apprentice of @squeezejuliandevorak on tumblr) go on a picnic! sfw, no spoilers.





	Study Break

Five more pages. That’s all. Once she’s finished this chapter she can take a break. Five more pages.

Clara squeezes her eyes shut to try and moisten them a bit and then looks back to the page, scanning to find her place. None of the words look familiar. Stifling a frustrated sigh, she flicks to the previous page to find the last section she actually remembered reading. Six more pages.

Her hands holding the book are too tight, and she forces her fingers to relax, smoothing out the pages where they had begun to wrinkle under the strain. Her eyes alight on a smooth, pale stone that she had found in the maze at the palace one day, when she had been trying to hunt down a guard dressed as a rabbit. She had been sorely in need of tranquility at that time. She could do with some of that now. She grabs it, squeezing it in her hands while her eyes try to make sense of the words on the page.

Suddenly, her chair is being spun around, and an ‘eep!’ escapes her, before she sees Julian, grinning mischievously at her. “Hey, honey,” he says, tugging at a piece of her hair, the red showing up brightly against his black gloves. “Have you been a busy bee?”

She rubs her eyes, trying to get some moisture back into them, and groans.

“That bad, huh?” Julian kisses her nose. “Well, although I know it is important, I’m sure it can wait an hour or two. Looks like you could use a break! Doctor’s orders!” He winks.

Clara looks back at the book she had been struggling through, torn, until a heavenly scent reaches her nose. In Julian’s hands is a basket, containing what seems to be freshly baked bread. He catches her gaze. “I… asked that baker fellow which one was your favourite. Surely you can’t resist the lure of freshly baked bread, my dear?”

She can’t. Clara allows him to take her hand and whisk her out of the shop, chattering the whole way.

They reach a clearing, where Julian shakes out a blanket with a flourish, and gestures grandly, as if he was pulling out a chair for the most elegant lady of the court. Clara straightens, and smooths out her clothes, daintily sitting down.

“Here, shall we break the bread, honeybee?” Julian proffers the baton at her.

She reaches out for the bread, pulling it, and it tears between the two of them. She takes a bite, not breaking eye contact. Then, with a sly grin, she flips the baton around so that the crusty end is facing him, brandishing it threateningly.

“I have sighted a dastardly pirate! En garde, Doctor Devorak! Prepare to meet your maker!”

Julian’s face lights up. “Ohhoho, so it’s a fight you want?” He throws his half of the bread up, it flips in the air and he catches it again. “It’s on. The pirates didn’t teach me the art of warfare for nothing. You’ll never take me alive!”

They hit their batons against each other, until finally Julian is disarmed, his bread sailing through the air, disturbing the bumblebees flying about, before disappearing somewhere in the high grasses at the edge of the clearing.

He lets himself fall flat on his back, an arm flying out wildly for dramatic flair. “Oh, woe is me, woe is me! I have been bested in single combat. A terrible fate shall befall me! Woe is me!”

Clara can’t contain her giggles, but she leans over him and plays her part. “What sort of terrible fate should a sweet and gentle lady such as myself demand? Surely nothing so awful as all that?”

He eyes her distrustfully. “Oh, gentle ladies have the worst minds of all you see.” He summons a shudder, though the effect is somewhat ruined by the grin he cannot manage to smother.

Clara affects shock. “Well, I certainly couldn’t have you thinking that ladies such as I are cruel. But yet, you must answer for your crimes. What a conundrum indeed!” She taps her lips as she thinks out loud, pondering dramatically.

She glances down at Julian through her lashes, and his gaze is transfixed on her face. “What indeed,” he says quietly.

She leans in closer. “A kiss, I believe. Your freedom for a kiss.”

“A price I should gladly pay,” declares Julian. He leans up, supporting his weight on one elbow behind him, and cupping her cheek with the other hand.

Their picnic takes slightly longer than originally anticipated, but Clara doesn’t mind. She can always finish reading her book tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on my tumblr. You can check out my other fics there, if you like :) (some are on ao3 but not all of them yet) https://the-lazaret.tumblr.com/tagged/my%20fic


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